21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card -- step ONE

seedcake

21 Ways - Step One

STEP ONE: China Tarot, The High Priestess

My card is The High Priestess. The background is golden but lower it has a nice turquoise coloring. She has on her white rob with uncovered arms. She keeps her palms near to the eyes which are a bit hidden. She has very calm expression and concentrated.
 

2dogs

21 Ways — Step One

Step ONE: Sirian Starseed, Master of Orbs.

I’ve decided I want to learn more about this deck so have started anew.

The Master of Orbs shows a frowning shaven headed man perhaps in his 40s seated on a tall grey wooden throne with a repeated design composed of abstract curves carved on the two uprights at either side and the uppermost part of the back, which angles up at about 30 degrees to a point above him and just below the top of the uprights. He is wearing a high quality floor length royal blue robe with short sleeves and a thicker white patterned strip along the open edges where it joins at the front. Underneath this he wears a shiny, silvery white high collared and long sleeved one piece garment which also reaches all the way down, covering his feet. In places this has an appearance resembling crystal, transparent ice or a waterfall. The man holds a shiny, sharp looking silver sword across his lap, but is holding it in his left hand with a strange reversed grip - he could stab it forwards and down or hold it resting point down on the ground, but not slash with it as normally used. He appears rather to be examining the sword or possibly displaying it to an onlooker - the pointed end is resting on the four fingers of his open right hand and this grip of his left hand would be better for supporting the hilt which is also of silvery metal and so would be heavier than the pointed end. With the cross piece of the hilt held vertical, the cutting edge of the blade would be against his fingers, so perhaps he is feeling its sharpness or showing someone that he can hold it so steadily as not to cut himself. He is actually looking slightly upwards as if he has just raised his gaze from the sword towards an observer. There is some sort of indistinct object in the man’s right hand running across from the base of his thumb just in front of his wrist. It looks like a flat curved strip about an inch wide with what could be four letters or runes on it, and between this and his thumb and index figure is a strange looking black shadow or what may be some form of fingerless glove or strap. The letters, if that is what they are, look a bit like a V or inverted A, L, U or O and S. The throne rests atop a flight or terrace of 9 clean grey stone steps, although there could be more below the bottom of the image, becoming less wide as they ascend. These steps are very nearly level but slope slightly towards the man’s left, the same side as the heavier end of the sword. They look slightly worn or uneven in places as though old. Behind the steps can be made out a sea and low piece of land coming in from the left of the picture, but the background is very bright and the sea is hard to make out from the sky near the horizon. The scene behind the man is all sky blue and white, with fluffy white clouds and an enormous circular shape of sky blue to the rear of the clouds. This would probably be indistinguishable from the sky behind were it not outlined by a white light seeming to come from behind it. Moving down from the top this circle gets brighter, blending into the sky and white clouds half way down, then becomes even brighter towards the bottom. At the very bottom this circle if continued would be behind the base of the throne, but a brilliant white arc can here be seen on the topmost step on which the throne rests, and below this appears a hazy blue glowing arc as if the light had somehow come right through the structure, or maybe has been absorbed into the rear and re-emitted from the front in the way that heat might be. Near the top of the image, above the left hand pillar of the throne as we look at it, is a very small white point. If natural this might be the planet Venus or a nova - although Sirius is the brightest star in the sky I don’t think it could be seen in such bright daylight. Nearly in the top right corner can just be seen a faint mottled circular object which could be the moon, full or a little past, although this seems somewhat high to be a realistic representation.
 

TRIANGLE

Step One

I'm using the MotherPeace tarot, and have drawn II - The High Priestess

This card is vaguely similar in appearance to the RWS, but 'motherpeaced' (the image link below will explain that hopefully!)

The motherpeace is a round deck. I am using the smaller size (3 inch diameter). This card has a rich, blue background and the High Priestess sits on the ground in the centre, inside a deep red circle. Her stance is open, her legs and arms are spread and her gaze is straight ahead. On either side of her are stone pillars with different etchings on them.

This is the High Priestess, from the Motherpeace Tarot.

http://s2.hubimg.com/u/5303867_f260.jpg
 

Epscylon

21 Ways: Step One

Step One: Shadowscapes tarot; Seven of Cups

Two figures, a man and a woman, stand upon the precipice of a great blue mountainous void, but neither of them seem to notice the random shells and seven golden chalices with wide mouths circle their feet haphazardly, though they all remain upright and shining, if empty. On high craggy peaks behind them, high castle towers burst forth from the stone like crystals.

The man, hair neatly pulled back and dressed in dark and subdued colors, stands with both of his dark-booted feet planted firmly on the outcropping, wind licking at his tunic. He is focused intently on the scroll in his hands - a map, various diagrams, sigils, it's hard to say.

The woman to his right (to us she appears on the left)dressed in a tattered pale shift accented with a bright red cord wound tightly around her ribs, is balanced precariously on her bare toes, stretching her hand up to point to the apparition(?) behind them, which the man has not noticed. She gazes up behind her, short wild hair gleaming copper in the half-light as a crescent waxing moon rises, nearly looking like a crown on her golden head.

Stars wink from her forehead as she eyes the floating island, home to a castle grown into a massive leafy tree shaded blue with distance and twilight, its leaves smoothing out into the half-shadows. She points out to it serene and determined and desperate, but the map-reader ignores her in favor of deciphering his scroll.
 

Funk3

Step One - Universal Waite, Judgement

The card has an angel looking content blowing through a trumpet with an english flag attached to it. The androgynous figure is above the clouds, but reveals itself to the people below.

THe landscape below is many people in what looks like coffins/square boats, and they are pale (almost look dead to be honest) giving themselves up to the divine above. Behind them is mountains, and they are in these boxes in the water.

I am holding the Judgement card from the Universal Waite deck.
 

Onion Budgie

21 Ways: Step One

Step ONE: Radiant Rider-Waite, Six of Cups

A village scene, on a pleasant day. The sky is blue, the grass is green. In the background is a turret, with a longer building extending beside it with lush foliage in front. A guard is pacing the flagstones nearby; he is holding a long spear.

In the foreground are six golden cups, each filled with one white lily. A young figure, dressed in blue smock and red hood, is holding one of these cups and extending it towards a female friend, who appears to be somewhat older than her companion. She is wearing slightly odd white mittens -- in fact, they rather more resemble modern kitchen gloves! She looks happy to be receiving the gift.

This is the Six of Cups card from the Radiant Rider-Waite.
 

america220

Step One: Rider Tarot, Chariot.

A man stands in a stone chariot. A black sphinx and a white sphinx lay on the ground in front of him. There is a castle in the distance behind him. On the front of the chariot is a shield with a red symbol in it, and blue wings coming off the top of it. The man is holding a spear. He is wearing a crown and armor. The curtain on the chariot is blue and covered in stars. The sphinxes are holding their tails.
 

Hooked on TdM

Step One: Tdm Dodal: Reine DeDenier (Queen of Coins)

She is seated and faces left. She holds a coin in the air with her right and yellow sceptre in the left. She seems pregnant. Her throne is low back, rounded and blue, flesh and white. Her robes are mostly red but has shots of blue, green, yellow and flesh. Her hat is really odd. It is a puffy bowl shape that sits on the back of her head. The first part is blue with a diamond hatching, the second with red bands and then it has two black bulbs coming off the ends that are dotted with yellow shapes.
 

fractalgranny

it's wonderful to see all these people here taking up this amazing study. welcome!
 

Lumi

STEP ONE: Rider-Waite Hanged Man

A young man is shown hanging upside down upon a T-shaped apparatus that bears leaves/vines. He is hanging by his right leg by what looks like a yellow fabric, his left leg is crossed at the knee and extends behind the right leg. His arms are behind his back; a rope or belt circles his waist. His pants are red, his shirt/tunic is blue. His shoes are yellow. His hair is golden. Around his head is an aura of yellow light. His eyes are open. The atmosphere around him is purple/lavender. This is the twelfth card of the major arcana.

This is the Hanged Man of the Rider-Waite deck (recolored version).